City officials work toward electric car charging stations

La PORTE — The city of La Porte is moving forward with plans to build three charging stations for electric vehicles in the city.

At least that was the hope on Monday when the La Porte Board of Public Works and Safety approved a proposal from Legacy Environmental Services for consulting work on the city’s electric vehicle infrastructure initiative.

During the meeting, La Porte City Planner Mary Jane Thomas said the cost for the service will be $4,800, and will help the city identify potential funding partners, conduct any required reporting, locate potential contractors and obtain any permits the city may need for the project.

City stations are being planned for the water and waste water buildings, but a public station is also being planned for an as-of-yet undetermined location in the city.

The latter would be open for public use.

Thomas said the plan is to get money from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant to cover work on the project.

This is an 80/20 matching grant, and requires the city to come up with 20 percent of the cost. Thomas said the hope is for the city can make up the 20 percent through the help of local partners, so there will be little to no cost to the city.